The Massive Attack Podcast

Episode 75 - P is for The Prisoner!

This episode we take advantage of our new recording set-up and have special guest, Scott, join us via Skype to cover the letter P and the 1967 cult classic, “The Prisoner” co-created and starring Patrick McGoohan.

It’s the story of a secret agent who is abducted and held prisoner in a mysterious coastal resort called The Village, re-named Number 6 and constantly drilled by his captors try to find out why he abruptly resigned from his job.

There are a couple of audio issues with this ep, seeing as we’ve never tried a Skype guest before, but please bear with us, as Scott’s knowledge and passion for “The Prisoner” well out-ways the bleeps and bloops.

 

 

Episode 74 - O is for The Omega Man!

As the A to Z of Massive Attack continues, we also continue with our look at dystopian futures now past with the 1971 sci-fi movie “The Omega Man”.

Based on the Richard Matheson novel “I Am Legend” that was also the inspiration for the 2007 Will Smith movie under the same name, Charlton Heston stars as the supposed  last man on Earth battling a horde of mutated vampires in a post- apocalyptic Los Angeles.

We do a pretty thorough re-telling of the plot, so spoiler alert if you haven’t seen this nearly 46 year old film, and we also look at the similarities and differences to the Will Smith version, plus some of the other works inspired by the original concept.

 

Episode 73 - N is for Nineteen Eighty-Four!

It's time for us to get a bit cultured, so this ep for the letter N we look at a book. Well, moreso a movie that was based on a book, but it's the thought that counts, as we look at the George Orwell tale of dystopian futures with the novel "Nineteen Eighty Four" and the version of the movie released in 1984 with John Hurt in the Winston Smith role.

 

We also look at the predictions of the future Orwell got right, and some of the later works influenced by this classic. Plus it gives us a chance to finally use The Eurythmics song "Sexcrime 1984" as our end song.

 

 

Episode 72 - M is for MASK!

It’s back to the 80’s again this episode, and possibly one of the best TV theme songs ever, when we look at the letter M for MASK.

We look back fondly at the cartoon series from 1985, the line of toys by Kenner, and the recent re-boot in comic form, and once again there are a couple of confessions from one of the hosts.

Episode 71 - L is for Lego!

It’s the letter L this time around, so we look at something that has been a part of both our lives from childhood all the way up until now, the iconic toy brick from Denmark, Lego.

We cover the history of the Lego company, how they evolved from making plastic bricks to putting their name on video games, TV shows and movies, and even have a couple of confessions about our adult Lego indulgences.

 

Episode 70 - K is for Knight Rider!

The A to Z continues on, and this time around it’s the letter K and the totally cheesy TV series, “Knight Rider”. 

We look back at the original run from the 80’s that was famous for it’s talking car, awesome theme song and the bad acting of David Hasselhoff, and then jump ahead to the later versions, including the telemovies “Knight Rider 2000” and “Knight Rider 2010”, the 90’s “Team Knight Rider” and the 2008 re-boot

Episode 69 - J is for Josie and the Pussycats!

The A to Z of Massive Attack rolls on, and this episode we look at the letter J and go back to everyone’s favourite animated girl group, Josie and the Pussycats.

We look at their origins in the “Archie” comics of the 60’s, the cartoon series from the early 70’s and it’s outer space spin-off , the 2001 feature that was a box office bomb, and their brief return to the small screen in the new series, “Riverdale”.

Mitch also goes on a little tangent about “Archie” in general too.

Episode 68 - I is for Indiana Jones!

This episode we look at the letter I with Indiana Jones.

We look at the four films with Harrison Ford playing the iconic archaeologist adventurer - where it all began in “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, with Kate Capshaw as the annoying Willie Scott in “Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom”, the addition of Sean Connery as Henry Jones Snr. in “Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade” and Shia LaBeouf as Mutt in “Indiana Jones & The Crystal Skull”.

We also briefly discuss the spin-off comic from the early 80’s “The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones” and the TV series “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles”.

Plus Mitch really doesn’t like magnets.

Episode 67 - H is for The Herculoids!

It’s H this episode, and due to Mitch’s excitement stemming from the comic “Future Quest”, we chose the 1967 Hanna-Barbera classic, “The Herculoids”.

 

Set on a far-off planet, this team of heroes protect their world from alien invaders. Sure, there was a lot of nostalgia in re-watching these old cartoons, but Joe found it hard to get passed as little something missing that neither of us realised back when we were kids.

 

 

Episode 66 - G is for Gorilla Films!

The A to Z rolls on, and seeing as we’ve reached G this episode, we look at the most majestic of all apes, gorillas.

 

Well, gorilla films to be more specific. From the classics tale of the giant ape in “King Kong” and it’s various sequels, to both versions of “Mighty Joe Young” and the crazy accents and bad acting that pop up in “Congo”, we have the gorilla genre well and truly covered. We even have time to look at some gorillas in cartoons and comics along the way too.

Episode 65 - F is for Fried Chicken!

What happens when one host makes a suggestion for a letter “F” topic and the other host doesn’t pick up on the sarcasm? Well, you get an episode dedicated to one of the world’s most popular fast foods, Fried Chicken!

We originally thought we could discuss the sci-fi action film “Freejack” but after almost losing the will to live watching it, we instead look at this tasty treat. The origins, our fond memories of drumsticks of the past, and the use of fried chicken in music.

There is a bit of movie talk in the ep too, as we make the slightly tenuous link and have a chat about the 70’s sketch comedy film “The Kentucky Fried Movie” that helped launch the careers of John Landis, Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers.

Episode 64 - E is for Escape From New York!

E is the next letter in our A to Z of Massive Attack, so this time around we look at the sci-fi cult classic “Escape From New York”.

Set in the dystopian future of 1997, well it was the future when John Carpenter made this film, Kurt Russell and his sweet mullet enter the island of Manhattan which has become a prison to rescue the President before time runs out.